Charles Randolph Butler Jr. (born March 28, 1940) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

Butler was born in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee University in 1962 and was a lieutenant in the United States Army, 8th Artillery, 7th Howitzer Battalion from 1962 to 1964. He attended Washington and Lee University School of Law before receiving a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1966.^[1]

Following his admission to the Alabama bar, Butler joined the law firm of his grandfather and father, later known as Hamilton, Butler, Riddick, Tarlton and Sullivan in Mobile, Alabama. After three years in that private practice (from 1966 to 1969), Butler helped found Mobile's first public defender service and worked as an assistant public defender for Mobile County from 1969 to 1970. He then won election as district attorney of Mobile County, although just 30 years old, and served from 1971 to 1975. In 1971 the Mobile Jaycees named him one of the Outstanding Young Men of America. Butler then returned to private practice until 1988.^[2]